Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Kyiv extends Donbas 'special status' law

    On Thursday, December 12, Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, extended the law on special provisions for local governments in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions until December 31 next year.

    The bill was supported by 320 MPs.

    According to the document, the possibility of an introduction of a temporary special status of local governments in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, established by Article 1 of the current law, has been extended for a year. 

    The law …

  • Putin's Press Secretary: Putin disagrees with Zelensky's use of term 'occupied Donbas'

    The Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin does not agree with Ukrainian President Zelensky's use of term "the occupied Donbas," which he used during the negotiations at the Normandy Four meeting, reports TASS.

    "During the negotiations, speakers made such a remark every time. They were saying "occupied territories as you say, but we disagree with that," Peskov explained.

    According to him, everyone clearly emphasized their disagreement with one or …

  • Ukrainian Defense Minister: Paris agreements with Russia can fall apart at any moment

    During the negotiations at the Normandy Format on December 9 in Paris, a number of agreements were reached to resolve the conflict in the Donbas, but the process of implementing them will not be quick, warned Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk.

    The risks exists of the agreement being broken off “at any stage”, the minister remarked.

    “There is a high likelihood of the agreements being broken off at any of the stages, but there is progress: We are working on bringing back prisoners …

  • Putin warns of ‘carnage’ if Ukraine regains control over border in Donbas

    Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to the speech of the Russian propagandist Kirill Vyshinsky at a meeting of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said that Ukraine might arrange a massacre in the separatist-held territory of the Donbas. The statement was made several days after the Normandy Four Summit.

    "The Ukrainian side always asks to allow them to close the border by deploying troops. I can imagine that something like the Srebrenica massacre will …

  • Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council approves main scenario of Donbas reintegration

    During a press conference after the Ukrainian National Security and Defense (NSDC) council meeting headed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on December 7, the NSDC's Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that the main scenario for the reintegration of the Donbas territories that are temporarily not controlled by Kyiv was chosen.

    "Today at a meeting of the NSDC, we approved one of the scenarios which will be implemented as the main one. The reintegration envisages bringing back to Ukraine the …

  • Zelensky goes to Normandy Four Summit in Paris ‘armed with information’

    During the meeting of Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), the Secretary of the Council Oleksiy Danilov said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will go to the Normandy Four Summit, which will be held in Paris on December 9, "armed with information" that will be used in the interests of the country. NSDC's meeting was broadcasted on YouTube by Ukrainian TV Channel 5.

    "The President [Zelensky] is going to the Normandy Four meeting armed with certain information, which, …

  • Kyiv files lawsuit against pro-Russian militants for executing Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas

    The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (GPU) has informed the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague about the summary execution of nine Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russian occupation forces during the battles of Ilovaisk and Debaltseve.

    “The notice essentially consists of the facts of the extrajudicial executions of nine soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine by members of the pro-Russian organized group Cossack Union Don Army Region …

  • Ukrainian President Zelensky promises to fight for ‘lost Donbas residents’

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the German newspaper Der Spiegel in an interview that he does not believe the results of the surveys which claim that most inhabitants of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics say they want to live in Russia.

    “I know that there are those who support Ukraine. The are those who have gotten lost. And there are those who are in favor of Russia. The latter can leave,” said Ukraine’s head of state.

    Zelensky said that each person can choose where he wants …

  • Ukraine to launch TV channel for residents of Donbas

    On November 30, Volodymyr Borodyansky, who heads the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, said in an interview to Mirror Weekly (Dzerkalo Tyzhnia) that the TV channel for residents of the Donbas areas that are not controlled by Ukraine will be launched in February 2020.

    He specified that broadcasting of this TV channel would be carried out only in the territory of the Donbas. The new channel is created based on the UATV channel. Broadcasting will take place in Ukrainian and Russian …

  • OSCE: troops withdrawal in new areas in Donbas is discussed

    OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák said that as part of the work of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine negotiations are taking place on potential withdrawal of forces and equipment in new territories along the demarcation line in the Donbas, reports Novosti Donbasa news outlet.

    "Negotiations on withdrawal are ongoing  within the Trilateral Contact Group. We fully support this. I don't want to say what the result will be. But there is a positive trend," …